broken pieces 》 muke/cashton

one

Michael sat there, on top of a hill, gazing over the city as the crimson sun slowly began to hide itself. His hand was making tender pencil strokes on a sketch pad as he hummed along to a song by The 1975 that played through his earphones. He took his eyes off of the portrait of his dog and breathed in the fresh air.

The hill was his favourite spot in the entire world. No one really goes up there, mainly because no one appreciated nature as much as Michael did anymore; everyone's so glued to their phones and other materialistic things that they barely leave the house any more. Michael had to admit that he did the same when he wasn't on the hill, but he made it a priority to go there at least once a week.

The song he was listening to came to an end and Michael was met with a moment of silence. That was until he heard a soft sobbing behind him. He turned around and found a blonde haired boy, sitting not too far away from him, hugging his knees and crying into them.

Michael flipped his sketch pad and made a quick and rough sketch of the boy. He loved to draw people in their rawest and most natural habitats. Once he was done with his messy and barely detailed drawing, he pulled his earphones out of his ear and shuffled over to the boy, closing his sketch pad as he did so.

"Hi," Michael said simply, causing the boy to jump a little due to the sudden disturbance of solitude.

"Hi," he mumbled in response, not sounding as if he wanted to speak at all. He sneakily stole a glance of Michael, shifting his head to a side to do so. Michael noticed, obviously. He notices a lot of things. The boy's eyes were bloodshot, they were magnificently blue, but bloodshot.

"Guess what? It's one of those instances where we're perfect strangers. I don't know you and I doubt that I'll ever see you again. So, you have the opportunity to say whatever you like, knowing that you'll never have to worry about your words being used against you. You can lie and I wouldn't know," Michael said, wishing that he could be as lucky as this boy, to have such a good opportunity presented to him.

The boy responded with about a minute of silence. "Okay, let's start with fake names then," he spoke into the sleeves of his sweater that rested on his knees.

Michael smiled, knowing that the boy was on board with his plan. "Great. I'm called Pizza," Michael joked.

"Pizza?" The boy questioned, letting out muffled giggles which made Michael's grin grow wider.

"Yeah Pizza, cool name right? My parents are huge fans of the food."

"In that case, I'm Fries," he said, finally bringing his head up and resting his chin on his knees.

His hair was slightly messy but more or less intact, styled in a perfect quiff. He had a piercing on his lip and innocent-looking blue eyes that anyone can get lost in if you look long enough. "Good to know that our parents had the same mindset while choosing our names," Michael smiled, pausing for a moment. "So, Fries, what's gotten you so upset?"

"I broke up with my girlfriend. I mean, I was kind of forced to, I just moved here," he responded, his smile fading.

"Oh no, was it a big move?"

"Yeah. About 20 thousand kilometres away. I just left my home. My friends, some family, my childhood. You know, I really loved that girl. I thought that we'd last forever. But then I came here."

"So let me guess, you now hate this place?"

"I'm all for finding the best in everything, but right now, there isn't anything that could make me like this place," he shook his head.

"I understand. Must've been really difficult huh?" Michael said.

"One of the worst things I've ever had to go through."

"So is today the first day you're here?"

"Kind of. I spent the whole of yesterday sleeping off the jet lag. I just got off the phone with one of my friends. He said that she misses me. Breaks my heart, y'know?"

"I bet you've heard it about a million times now, but there's always social media."

"I know, but there's a difference between seeing someone through a screen and being next to them. It's just not the same. It hurts so much to know that I won't ever see them again. What if they forget me? What if I never left an impact in anyone's lives?"

"I doubt that you never left an impact. This girl you were with, she seems just as affected by this as you. She must have really loved you. You had to have left an impact in her life. And hey, if it was meant to be, she'd come back to you eventually."

"Remember when I said that there's nothing that could make me like this place?" He asked and Michael nodded. "Well, maybe if all people were like you, then I might not have too much of a problem. Also, this sunset is mesmerising."

Michael stopped looking at him for a moment to watch the sunset. He had seen the sunsets in this place dozens of times before. But every sunset was different. Today's sunset was complimented by the white, puffy clouds in the sky. The sky was a brilliant mixture of pink, purple and orange, the sun almost out of sight completely and moon beginning to fade into sight. "These sunsets are really something huh?" Michael nodded, still taking in the view. "And as for people being like me, I'm highly uncertain about it, I like think I'm one of a kind."

"Yeah, I don't think many people can pull off purple hair and an eyebrow piercing."

"Why thank you. Your lip piercing is something special too, Fries."

"Really?" He said, biting down on the lip ring. "I've had it for a while now, I forget that it's even there."

Michael opened his mouth to say something but got cut off by the sound of a Green Day song playing. He shuffled around in search of his phone, to see if it was responsible for the interruption, but was surprised when he found out that it was Fries's ringtone. Michael's jaw dropped in shock as he watched him answer the call and press the phone against his ear.

Michael thought for a while as he had his conversation. "Sorry about that," Fries said once the phone call ended. "My mother wants me back home before dinner. Need to help unpacking. Thanks though, I really needed this conversation, more than you could ever imagine," he said, standing up. He was tall. Like, very tall. Michael swore that his legs were as long as Michael's entire body.

"You're welcome, Fries."

"Goodbye Pizza."

I let out a small chuckle. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that name."

"I don't know, Fries is starting to grow on me. Might actually change my name to that."

"Well, good luck with the move Fries. It'll get better, I promise."

"Thanks," he gave him one final smile before heading off to who knows where.

Michael opened up his sketch pad again. He opened up a brand new page and drew a cartoon-style image of Fries. The cartoon had a smile- just like the one Michael was given before his departure but at the same time, he had teary eyes, and a few bags from the jet lag and crying.

Once he was pleased with his work, he closed the book and sighed. He made a mistake didn't he? He should've gotten the guy's phone number, or at least a name. He liked Green Day. Barely anyone Michael knew liked Green Day. Maybe he just missed out on a chance of making a new friend.

a/n: hiii welcome to this book! i hope you enjoyed the first chapter! i really have high hopes for this book so i hope i don't mess up the plot. anyways, make sure to vote and comment as you please because it will make me very happy :)